Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique attributed Les Parisiens’ defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League to a lack of luck, insisting that his side deserved to win based on their superiority during the game, Soccernet.football reports.
PSG bossed possession as usual but once again lacked conviction in attack. Warren Zaire-Emery’s opener resulted from a defensive error and Nahuel Molina responded swiftly for Atletico.
The visitors’ persistence was rewarded three minutes into injury time when second-half substitute Angel Correa scored on a counter-attack.
The French champions created several clear chances through Achraf Hakimi, Bradley Barcola, and Ousmane Dembele, but in the absence of a recognized center-forward, they failed to capitalize.
“There are no words. I think that in our three home games, we were highly superior to our opponents but we did not have any luck,” Luis Enrique said as quoted by ST.
“As long as there are matches, we will fight,” he added, with PSG next set to travel to Bayern Munich on November 26.
PSG currently rank 25th out of 36 in the league, placing them in the elimination zone midway through the group stage. They have lost five of their last eight Champions League games, matching their total losses from the previous 19.
For the first time, they have failed to win consecutive home group-stage matches. Despite 22 attempts on goal and 2.12 xG against Atletico’s four shots and 0.67 xG, their opponents were more clinical in converting chances.
“I’ve been in the game for over 30 years and I can’t explain it. It’s just bad luck. We were infinitely superior to our opponents,” Luis Enrique added.
“We would have deserved to win our three home games. Comfortably.”
Asked if PSG’s chances to go through the league phase were in danger, he said: “Undoubtedly.
“We created 50 chances in three games and we failed to convert so many of them… we need 20 clear chances to score and our opponents sneeze and they score… it sounds like a bad joke.
“Creating chances is the team’s responsibility and I’m responsible for the team, so I’m responsible for the results. If I fail, I will fail with my ideas. We’re on the right path.”